DHAKA, Aug 17, 2026 (BSS) - The National Board of Revenue (NBR) has directed customs houses and land customs stations at the field level to ensure the duty and tax benefits announced by the government for imports of equipment required for solar power generation.

The revenue authority has also said that importers should not be deprived of the benefits merely because of confusion over the HS codes of solar panels and inverters, provided the prescribed conditions are fulfilled.

The NBR issued a circular to this end today.

According to the circular, although the government announced duty and tax exemptions in the FY2026-27 budget for imports of goods required for solar power generation, delays and complications have been reported in the clearance of such goods at various customs houses and land customs stations.

The NBR issued the directive after the matter came to its attention.

The circular said the existing notification specifies HS Code 8541.43.00 for solar photovoltaic/modules/panels. However, if an importer declares multiple solar power generation-related products in a bill of entry and different HS codes are used for those products, the importer cannot be denied the duty and tax benefits solely on that ground.

In such cases, subject to fulfillment of the conditions specified in the relevant notification, solar panels will be eligible for the existing notification's benefits, while other products can be released upon payment of the applicable duties and taxes under the relevant notifications.

The NBR has also resolved complications regarding the HS code applicable to solar inverters used for solar power generation.

The circular said that although HS Code 8504.40.90 was mentioned in place of 8504.40.40 against solar inverters in Table-1 of the relevant notification issued on June 8, the description of the product will take precedence.

Therefore, the duty and tax concessions specified in the notification will be applicable to imports of solar inverters. In other words, an importer of solar inverters cannot be deprived of the announced duty and tax benefits solely because of a difference in HS codes.

The NBR has further directed that if a manufacturing company intends to establish a solar plant for power generation, all products required for setting up the plant will also be eligible for duty and tax benefits.

Subject to fulfillment of the conditions stipulated in the relevant duty-benefit notification and the import policy, such products can be cleared by paying only 1 percent customs duty.

For commercial importers, however, the applicable charges will be 1 percent customs duty, 7.5 percent advance tax and 5 percent advance income tax. The advance tax and advance income tax will be adjustable subsequently.

The NBR instructed the field-level customs authorities to ensure that the concerned importers do not face unnecessary complications or delays in the clearance of their goods.

The circular was issued under the powers conferred by Section 266 of the Customs Act, 2023.